Israeli army occupies roof in Silwan
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC) 10 Feb — The Israeli Army has occupied the roof of a Palestinian building in East Jerusalem’s Silwan district. The military order is effective until August 5, 2011, but the residents have been given 14 days to appeal. They are prohibited from ascending to the building’s roof … The structure contains the Batn Al-Hawa neighborhood’s main mosque and the houses of seven Palestinian families.
Meanwhile in Sheikh Jarrah, Israeli police threatened locals it would take extreme punitive measures over ongoing confrontations sparked by provocations by Jewish settlers in the area.http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2

Exclusive video: Israeli army arrests 11-year-old in broad daylight (Part 2) / Joseph Dana
10 Feb – Yesterday, I posted two videos of January 2011 night raids in Nabi Saleh. The videos were taken during a ‘mapping operation’ conducted by the Israeli army. The operation was to photograph and catalogue all the male children in the village. There is no violence, just violation. The above is another video from Nabi Saleh, shot a couple of days after the night raids. It was taken on a Tuesday morning after Israeli authorities had completed another house raid. As the army and police were leaving, one police van stops and two border police officers jump out. 11-year-old Kareem Tamimi comes running into the frame, running towards his mother … The border police officers capture the child, handling him as if he was a fully grown adult … Kareem’s arrest was part of a strategy to apply as much pressure as possible on his 14-year-old brother Islam, who was arrested the previous day in a night raid, in order that Islam will deliver any script that his investigators wanted.http://josephdana.com/2011/02/exclusive-video-israeli-army-arrests-11-year-old-in-broad-daylight-part-2/

IOF troops desecrate mosque, detain West Bankers
NABLUS, (PIC)– Israeli occupation forces (IOF) broke into an ancient mosque in Beit Dajan village, east of Nablus, and rounded up seven Palestinians in various West Bank areas at dawn Thursday. Local sources reported that the IOF soldiers took photos of the mosque from within and outside along with other ancient sites and old buildings, the municipal council premises, village clubs, culture centers, and under construction projects … Locals said that tens of IOF soldiers stormed at dawn today Oqaba village in Tobas district, and detained four citizens of one family after searching their homes.http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bc

Cops cleared of abuse charges
Ynet 9 Feb – Last of 10 officers accused of beating, urinating on Palestinian man cleared for lack of evidence … Though the Justice Ministry believed the complainant’s account of severe physical violence used against him by 10 officers, just four were originally indicted, and the charges against three have since been dropped. On Wednesday, the unit also dropped charges against the final remaining indicted officer. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4026451,00.html

Siege / Closures / Restriction of movement

Nablus town closed down for MK visit
NABLUS (Ma’an) 10 Feb — The town of Balata was closed down overnight by Israeli forces escorting three members of the Knesset on the first state visit to Joseph’s Tomb since troops withdrew from the area. At least 1,000 religious Jews and settlers were present for the visit, which began at 11 p.m. and lasted until sunrise. Residents were told not to leave their homes for the duration. http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=358637

Huwwara checkpoint to come down
NABLUS (Ma’an) 10 Feb — Nablus Governor Jebrin Al-Bakri was informed by PA liaison officials that the Israeli military will begin immediately the removal of infrastructure for the Huwwara and Beit Furik checkpoints … The announcement came after what Al-Bakri said was eight months of negotiations with Israeli officials, saying that without freedom of movement through the northern West Bank, economic development would be impossible … the Nablus district alone has 6 checkpoints, three partial checkpoints, 33 earth mounds blocking exit roads from major thoroughfares, eight roadblocks 5,400 meters of trenches and 3,363 meters of earth walls preventing free movement. http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=358642

UN puts Gaza unemployment rate at 45%
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — The unemployment rate in Gaza has continued to climb in 2011, reaching 45.4%, UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness told reporters in Gaza City on Wednesday. At a news conference for the UN Relief and Works Agency, Gunness warned that the increasing unemployment was a sign of a hugely fragile Gaza economy, which he described as on the “brink of collapse.”http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=358657

Goods enter through single crossing
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) 10 Feb — The southernmost Gaza-Israel crossing terminal Kerem Shalom was opened by Israeli officials on Thursday, for an estimated 180-190 truckloads of goods … The same crossing, described by UN officials as a “bottleneck” was scheduled to export six truckloads of strawberries and carnations under a Dutch government program to support Gaza farmers.http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=358612

Stranded Palestinians finally allowed to leave Cairo airport
CAIRO, (PIC) 10 Feb — Palestinian citizens stranded at the Cairo international airport were finally allowed on Wednesday to enter Cairo after two weeks in the airport. Egyptian sources told the PIC that 30 Palestinians left the airport after being held there after closure of the Rafah border terminal leading to Gaza Strip … The sources said that part of those Palestinians went to their relatives and friends’ homes in Cairo while others were moved to Palestine hotel, adding that diplomats at the Arab League intervened for the sake of moving those stranded citizens from the airport where they had declared a hunger strike last Sunday to protest their condition.http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd

Despite PA repression, Palestinians rally for Egypt / Charlotte Silver
(EI) 9 Feb – …In the West Bank, demonstrating solidarity takes on a dual and potentially treacherous significance, as Palestinians can easily indict their own government for similar charges heard from Egyptians and earlier, Tunisians. The fate of Egypt has direct consequences for that of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, where elections for the Palestinian Authority have not been held even though the terms of office for the legislative council and president have long since expired … The PA has notably distanced itself from the events in Tunisia and Egypt, while Palestinian television has reportedly entirely ignored Egypt. Moreover, the PA has squashed attempts by Palestinians to express solidarity with their sisters and brothers in Egypt, bringing to light the repression and fear Palestinians face. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11788.shtml

Journalists arrested in Bethlehem
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) 9 Feb — The Preventive Security Service prevented two journalists from covering a protest Tuesday in the West Bank city of Bethlehem and then placed them in custody, a press freedom group said. Quds TV correspondent Mamdouh Hamamrah was covering a teachers’ sit-in in at the Education Ministry in Bethlehem when Preventive Security personnel arrested him and his cameraman, MADA said Wednesday.http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=358175

The scent of the Palestinian pharaoh / Abdaljawad Hamayel
(EI) 9 Feb – “They are marching to freedom, while we march to surrender.” These were my mother’s words as she reacted spontaneously, but intensely to the Egyptian and Tunisian revolutions and lamented over Palestinians’ self-inflicted wounds emanating from the Palestinian Authority and its numerous failures … It is not only surrender we are marching to, but we are marching — under PA tutelage — toward a typical one-party, pseudo-security state. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11790.shtml

Wednesday: 14 Iraqis killed, 120 wounded
A significant attack in Kirkuk may have shook the country today and reminded the world of Iraq’s continuing violence, but it is the amount of chronic corruption within government that perhaps has even more Iraqis rattled. At least 14 Iraqis were killed in attacks across the country and 121 more were wounded. The head of the Commission on Integrity (COI), Rahim Hassan al-Uqailee, warned that corruption is a major source of financing for terrorist groups, but self-protection within the departments and among their ministers exacerbates the situation.http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2011/02/09/wednesday-14-iraqis-killed-120-wounded/

Jordan PM names Islamist, leftists to new cabinet
AMMAN, Jordan (AFP) 9 Feb — Jordanian Prime Minister Maaruf Bakhit named a new cabinet including an Islamist and five leftists Tuesday following the dismissal of the previous government by King Abdullah II earlier this month. The new line-up, which was sworn in, includes independent Islamist Abdelrahim Akur, who is a former leader of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood, as head of the ministry of Islamic affairs and awqaf (endowments).http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=358565

Jordan tribes break taboo by targeting queen
AMMAN, Jordan (AFP) 9 Feb — Popular discontent took a new turn with unprecedented public criticism of King Abdullah II’s wife, Queen Rania, who stands accused of “corruption” by large tribes, the bedrock of Jordan’s regime. “We call on the king to return to the treasury land and farms given to the Yassin family (of the queen). The land belongs to the Jordanian people,” 36 tribal leaders said this week in a joint statement.http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=358567

Al Jazeera video: Dispute over Guantánamo death
9 Feb – Kin of Afghan man who died in the US-run detention centre contest the claim he died of “natural causes” — Al Jazeera has obtained exclusive footage from the funeral of Awal Gul, an Afghan man who died in US custody at the Guantánamo Bay detention centre last week. The US military said that Awal Gul’s death was caused by “apparent natural causes”. But as Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr reports from Kabul, the incident has stirred up anti-American sentiment.http://www.uruknet.info/?new=74810

Red Cross tents demolished in village
NABLUS (Ma’an) 9 Feb — Israeli military bulldozers demolished barns and tents in Khirbet Tana village on Wednesday, marking the fourth time in a week dwellings in the area set up by the International Red Cross were forcibly taken down … A representative of Israel’s Civil Administration said the demolitions were a part of “routine law enforcement activity against illegal building,” and confirmed that approximately 19 buildings were destroyed.http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=358381

Eviction orders issued to Bedouin families in Jerusalem
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) 8 Feb — The Israeli Civil Administration issued eviction orders to the residents of Palestinian Bedouin community Sira’iya. The orders are valid for the tents, barns and animal pens that house the families of Sira’iya and their livestock, horses and poultry. The community is located in Wadi Abu Hindi area between Abu Dis, Bethlehem and Sawahreh of south-east Jerusalem. Hatem Abdel Qader, who holds the Jerusalem portfolio for the PA, stated that the eviction orders underline the clear intention of the Israeli authorities to displace the Sira’iya clans from their traditional land in the greater Jerusalem area, thus enabling further land annexation and settlement construction in the region, completing the so-called “Eastern Ring” of Jewish settlements around the capital.http://silwanic.net/?p=11669

Rawabi developer to replace trees donated by JNF
9 Feb – Bashar Al-Masri, developer of a new West Bank city Rawabi, said Tuesday that trees donated to the project by the Jewish National Fund would be replaced by olive trees. Masri said there was some confusion over the trees, explaining that pine trees near the city were actually in Area C, a zone under full Israeli control. He stressed that the new city’s identity was Palestinian, and that some Israeli elements were trying “to manipulate the issue.” Earlier Tuesday, senior Fatah member Uri Davis called on Masri to uproot the trees in an opinion piece published on Ma’an.http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=358239

Village and forest and a bit about God / Adam Keller
8 Feb …Why is the government of Israel, the only democratic state in the Middle East (?), so insistent upon repeatedly destroying a small village which existed long before Israel itself came into being? The answer is well known: to make the desert bloom. Yes, it is the proclaimed and outspoken intention of the Jewish National Fund to plant a forest on this site. This damned unrecognized village called Arakib poses an obstacle to their noble forestry plans. A forest? Is it really possible to let a forest grow in this arid area, even if a lot of water is pumped there from other regions. Possibly the JNF might manage a little grove, should the police ever manage to rid them of the stubborn villagers. Maybe…http://adam-keller2.blogspot.com/2011/02/village-and-forest-and-bit-about-god.html

Israel bombs medical aid warehouse in Gaza
(with photos) 9 Feb (Middle East Monitor) Fires raged through the early hours of the morning as fire-fighters and volunteers tried to salvage medical supplies and aid … The press spokesperson for the Emergency Services, Abu Adham, said that eight civilians were injured by the Israeli bombs, including two children and three women. The casualties were taken to the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza. Abu Adham pointed out that there is already an acute shortage of medicines and medical supplies in the Gaza Strip due to the ongoing Israeli blockade of the territory. In his assessment, the airstrike targeted the medical warehouse in an attempt to subdue further the civilian population.http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/2039-israel-bombs-medical-aid-warehouse-in-gaza

10 Palestinians injured in Gaza strikes
Ten Palestinians were injured Wednesday morning in Israeli air strikes which started after midnight and hit in a series of explosions running from the northern end of the Strip to the south … eight were lightly injured including two children and three women … one strike targeted a medicine warehouse east of Gaza City. The strike obliterated the warehouse and damaged a carpenters workshop next door, he said. The Israeli warplanes dropped another two missiles on an empty area east of Gaza City with no injuries reported. Further south, two Palestinians were injured when missiles hit a training ground used by Islamic Jihad’s Al-Quds Brigades. Medical sources said the injured were civilians who lived adjacent to the site. http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=358260

Palestinian injured in clashes south of Nablus
NABLUS (Ma’an) — A teenager was hospitalized Wednesday morning after being shot in the leg by Israeli forces with a rubber-coated bullet, as witnesses said the force entered the village of Urif. South of the illegal Yitzhar settlement, locals said the military patrol sparked clashes as a group of armored cars drive through the area, prompting teens and children on their way to class to throw stones and yell. http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=358271

Reprisals

PFLP wing says shelled Israeli military jeep
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) 9 Feb — The armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, said militants fired a projectile on an Israeli military jeep east of Gaza City’s Ash-Shujayiya neighborhood on Wednesday morning. According to a statement sent by the group, Israeli soldiers entered the area to rescue the targeted patrol. The attack came after a series of three Israeli airstrikes hit targets across the Gaza Strip, injuring 10, including three women and two children. http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=358277

Siege

OPT: Gaza vulnerable despite resumption of Egyptian petrol deliveries
GAZA CITY, 9 Feb (IRIN) – Despite ongoing protests calling for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s immediate resignation, petrol is once again flowing through the tunnels from Egypt into Gaza after supplies were cut for a week due to the unrest, according to the Palestinian General Petroleum Corporation. The corporation reports that almost one million tons of diesel has been pumped under the border into the Gaza Strip in the past two days. At least 210,000 litres of petrol has also come through and more is expected, alleviating immediate fears of a fuel shortage. http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=91877

WHO: Gaza drug shortage ‘serious’ risk to health
9 Feb – A World Health Organization report found “serious health risks” were at play during an investigation probing the availability of essential medications in the Gaza Strip. In coping with the unavailability of medications, the report said, doctors prescribe alternative medications that are sometimes less effective or have worse side effects. In other cases, patients must independently approach NGOs for medications unavailable in clinics. The report said the issue was the most severe when it came to cancer drugs, drugs for patients with kidney failure, congenital heart disease or immunosuppressant drugs for transplant patients.http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=358309

Palestinians face uncertain reception at Cairo airport
An official at the Palestinian Embassy in Cairo denied reports that Palestinians were being denied entry into Egypt, saying all those with residence permits could access the country freely. The director of the Egyptian borders authority, however, told AFP that the entry of at least 12 Palestinians had been denied, saying they were expelled from the country after landing in Cairo. The ban, he said, would be temporary and not apply to those already in Cairo. On Tuesday, Hamas officials in Gaza said there were at least ten Palestinians being held in the Cairo airport.http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=358165

Egyptian humor touches Palestine
‘If the Egyptian revolution succeeds,’ the joke, murmured in the streets of Cairo goes, ‘it will meet with Tunis for the finals.’ A second, which made the rounds in Egypt by SMS, and arrived on the mobiles of thousands of Palestinians, commented: A group of surgeons went to Egypt to perform a one-of-a-kind operation on conjoined twins named Hosni Mubarak and the Thronehttp://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=358220

Three car bombs kill , wound 78 in Iraq’s Kirkuk
(Reuters) 9 Feb – …The explosions were the latest in a series of attacks on police and soldiers by insurgents as U.S. troops prepare to withdraw by the end of this year. Kirkuk, inhabited by a mix of Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen and others, sits on some of Iraq’s biggest oil reserves and is one of the disputed territories at the center of tensions between the Kurdistan Regional Government and Iraq’s central government in Baghdad.http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110209/wl_nm/us_iraq_violence

City of contrasts / Abeer Mohammed
8 Feb – Some are less obvious than others as Sadr City undergoes cultural and economic change — Contradictions are evident everywhere you go in this impoverished district of Baghdad. Sadr City is increasingly a cultural battleground between traditional Islam and modernity. This teeming Shia stronghold of Baghdad is also the backdrop for a fight against poverty as Iraq stabilises and attempts to expand its economic opportunities.
http://iwpr.net/report-news/city-contrasts

Mannequins wear a message for Iraq’s women
8 Feb – Four mannequins in Western dress in the Kadhimiya neighborhood. Text accompanying the display, put on by a mosque, had an uncompromising message: Men who look at women in such dress become voracious monsters; women who wear it burn through eternity … Since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s government in 2003, women’s clothing has served as a barometer not just of fashion, but of the current ascendancy of religious values in a once secular society.http://www.uruknet.info/?new=74778

‘All those involved in my treatment should be jailed for war crimes’
9 Feb (WSWS) – On December 17, the Labor government of Prime Minister Julia Gillard signed an out-of-court settlement with former Guantánamo Bay prisoner Mamdouh Habib to end his legal action over the Australian government’s complicity in his illegal detention, extraordinary rendition, and torture by officials from the United States, Pakistan and Egypt between 2001 and 2005. The government’s sudden decision came after 54-year-old Habib presented its lawyers with testimony from a former Egyptian military intelligence officer, and from ex-detainee Muhammad Saad Iqbal Madni, who was incarcerated with Habib in Egypt and at Guantánamo Bay.http://www.uruknet.info/?new=74780

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